Quick Flicks

Movies recently reviewed and currently running.


“Babel” — Alejandro Gonzalez I¤arritu’s “Babel” tells three separate but linked stories —very sad ones — that unfold on three continents, zooming us every few minutes from Mexico to Morocco to Tokyo and back again. If you’ve just noticed that all these locales end with the letter “o,” and if such connections set your pulse racing, this is the movie for you. Others would be well-advised to keep their distance from this well-shot, ill-conceived bouquet of suffering. “Babel” is, at least, well-titled, although probably not for the intended reason. I¤arritu wants us to think of the chaos that followed God’s scattering of the peoples and confusion of their tongues. But the movie is really like the tower itself: an attempt at grandeur that falls flat. (R) 142 min. ** — Thomas Peyser

“Borat” — The full name of Borat’s new movie is the wonderfully awkward “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” Borat, a Kazakh journalist, is off to visit America, where he preys on the hapless citizenry, and chases the dream of marrying Pamela Anderson. “Borat” might be a faker, but the people who fall for him aren’t. Cohen and his con-team swoop in for an interview with a stack of contracts the mark doesn’t have the time or inclination to read. The result is usually a disaster for the interviewee and comedic gold for Borat. Cohen’s character is one of the funniest mainstream satirists in pop culture today. (He would be the funniest without those DVD box sets of “The Simpsons.”) He’s leagues above the funny race car driver, news anchor and other characters created by Will Ferrell. Ferrell, after seeing “Borat,” is reputed to have lamented he’d never top it. That’s likely true. (R) 82 min. ***** — Wayne Melton

“The Pursuit of Happyness” — This new Will Smith vehicle begins with the cautiously phrased announcement, “inspired by a true story.” Whether inspired by one or not, “The Pursuit of Happyness,” the tale of a father’s desperate attempt to pull himself and his son out of poverty, is emphatically not a true story. It mostly inhabits a familiar world of wish-fulfilling make-believe, but only uncomfortably. It aspires to a grittiness it hasn’t the stomach for, and so gets stuck in a narrative no-man’s-land between fantasy and realism. To some extent, however, Smith’s bottomless capacity for charm saves the movie from itself. (PG-13) 117 min. *** — T.P.

“The Queen” — Elizabeth II ascended the throne just a few weeks after Eisenhower became president, yet Stephen Frears’ smart, moving and altogether engrossing “The Queen” is the first feature film about her. It’s likely to remain the best. Set mostly in the week following the death of Princess Diana, “The Queen” traces the aging monarch’s attempt to come to grips both with a population whose extraordinary outpouring of grief is entirely beyond her comprehension and with a new, media-savvy prime minister, Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), whose political antennae vibrate in perfect sympathy with the mood swings of the masses. The result is a fascinating and telling confrontation of old-fashioned British phlegm and newfangled demands that all public figures be emotionally accessible to the people. It’s the story, in other words, of how politicians and sovereigns can hold onto their positions only if they consent to become just a special kind of celebrity. (PG-13) 97 min. ***** — T.P.

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